The 2014 National Animal Law Competitions were held at Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago!

NALC, is an inter-law school competition presented by the Center for Animal Law Studies at Lewis & Clark. NALC provides law students from across the United States an opportunity to develop knowledge in the field of animal law while honing their written and oral advocacy skills. The event is comprised of three separate competitions:

Legislative Drafting & Lobbying Competition

Closing Argument Competition

Appellate Moot Court Competition

Registration

It is highly recommended to read the competition rules in full before registering. To avoid confusion and potential registration problems, please be sure to internally coordinate how those competing from your law school will handle the registration process, including payment.

Registration Links

We will be using an online registration system this year. Payment can be made by check or credit card. Those paying by credit card will be charged a 2.2% processing fee.

Registration should be completed by the individual competitor or by one team member on behalf of both in the case of the Appellate Moot Court Competition. Those submitting registration(s) on behalf of a team or individual competitor should enter the email address of the competitor or one of the team members (Team Member A) on the first registration screen. This is necessary as the email address will be automatically entered into the competitor field of the registration form.

In instances where specific competitor information is still unknown, an interim contact from the school should be entered on this first screen. Please note, the confirmation email will be sent to that email address.

Required information on the registration form includes:

Law School name & mailing address

Competitors’ names, year in school, email address, phone number, mailing address. (Both team members’ info is needed for the Appellate Moot Court Competition. For those schools that hold internal competitions or the like, registration may be completed without specific competitor info. This information, however, must be provided by November 15th.)

Coaches’ names & email address

The name, email address and phone number for a primary contact, in case of any registration problem and/or question(s).

The competition is open to law students currently seeking a J.D. from any ABA-approved law school in the United States. See competition rules for additional information.

Schedule

Instead of paper programs, we are using a mobile event app for the competitions this year. The app includes the schedule, maps, judge information and other important details. Click here to download the app onto your smartphone, tablet or laptop.

For a PDF copy of the event schedule, please click here. The schedule is subject to change, so please check back often if you plan to use a printed copy. The following outline will also provide you with the key schedule elements:

All competition rounds on Saturday and Sunday as well as the Saturday results reception will take place at Northwestern School of Law.

Venue & Lodging

Venue

All competition rounds on Saturday and Sunday, February 22-23 will take place at Northwestern University School of Law campus at 375 East Chicago Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611. View a map of the campus here. The floor plans, showing where the competition rooms are located, is also available here.

Lodging

We reserved a special rate for NALC competitors and coaches at the MileNorth Hotel on The Magnificent Mile in downtown Chicago. The MileNorth is a modern, boutique hotel that offers complimentary wi-fi and mini-fridges in guestrooms, a 24-hour fitness center, and an indoor rooftop lounge and bar, among other amenities. Our group rate was $99/night plus tax based on availability. Reservations had to be made by February 1, 2014 in order to receive the special rate. To reserve a room, please call the hotel directly at: (855) 645-3667, email MNHReservations@destinationhotels.com or book online here. You must mention that you are with the “National Animal Law Competitions Group” to receive the special rate. Reservations made after February 1st will be offered the current rack rate, providing rooms are still available. Valet parking is available for $58/day.

An additional hotel option for NALC competitors and coaches is the DoubleTree by Hilton Chicago Magnificent Mile. The DoubleTree is offering our group the “Northwestern University” rate of $99/night plus tax, based on availability. If the Northwestern rate is not available, the reservations agent will quote the next best rate. The DoubleTree has a fully equipped fitness center, high-speed internet access ($9.95/day per device), a business center with complimentary printing, as well as other amenities. To reserve a room, please call: (800) 222-8733 and ask for the “Northwestern University” rate. Self-parking is available for $50/day.

We also reserved a room block for the NALC judges at the Hyatt Chicago Magnificent Mile Hotel. The Hyatt is a newly-renovated, full service hotel also located on The Magnificent Mile. Apart from the standard hotel amenities such as in-room refrigerators and safes, iPod docking stations and flat-screen TVs, our group will also receive complimentary guestroom wi-fi and access to the fitness center and pool. Valet parking is available for $61/day. All reservations were handled by Liberty Mulkani via a rooming list. Please contact Liberty with any questions.

Note: All of these hotels are conveniently located within a 10-minute walk from Northwestern University School of Law.

Transportation

There are several transportation options from O’Hare and Midway Airports to downtown Chicago. You can take advantage of the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) train that goes from the airports directly downtown for $5 or less. From baggage claim, follow the signs to the train and purchase your ticket as your board the Blue Line. The total travel time to downtown, is between 45-60 minutes.

Alternatively, Go Airport Express shuttles run from both airports to downtown and will drop you at your hotel. The ticket kiosks are inside the airport near baggage claim and a one-way trip for 1-person costs approximately $30. Note: the cost will be reduced depending on how many people are in the shuttle and the ride times will vary depending on passenger drop-offs as well.

Taxis are also available outside of the airport terminals. Fares cost approximately $45-$50 one-way from either airport to downtown. Two local taxi companies are:

Flash Taxi: (773) 561-4444

Yellow Cab:(312) 829-4222

Special Thanks

We would like to thank the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) for their incredible support of the National Animal Law Competitions. It is in large part the support of ALDF that makes the event possible year after year. We are grateful for our ongoing collaboration with ALDF and for the significant work individuals at ALDF put into the National Animal Law Competitions.

We would also like to thank the Shared Earth Foundation for their generous support of NALC.

Finally, this competition would not be possible without the tremendous work of the individuals who volunteered countless hours writing the competition problems and grading the team briefs and bill & fact sheets. Our sincere thanks to: